Vegan Majority News Survey: January 10, 2016

About a dozen animal rights activists made their voices heard at the Pennsylvania Farm Show during PA Governor Tom Wolf’s opening ceremony speech. [1] The first vegan butcher shop in the U.S. will open in Minneapolis Jan. 23. [2] Jennifer Aniston said she is “riveted” by the vegan taco cleanse, saying “I can see that being something.” [3] Two chimpanzees have been returned to their captors following a 2-year legal battle to have them declared legal persons. [4] Philly.com published “15 reasons why 2016 could be the Year of the Vegan in Philly.” [5] The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed a lawsuit against the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services over newly-released dietary guidelines. [6] PETA staff delivered vegan jerky to the armed “militiamen” occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, carrying signs that read “The End (of Animal Agriculture) Is Nigh: Get Out Now!” [7] Chef Chloe Coscarelli will open her second and third by CHLOE fast casual vegan restaurants in Manhattan in 2016, in a wave of “vegan dining on the rise in New York City.” [8]

Moby announced he’ll donate 100% of the profits from his new L.A. restaurant to animal welfare organizations, including Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Farm Sanctuary, Sea Shepard and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. [9] Demetrius Bagley, business advisor and producer of the award-winning documentary, Vegucated, announced an online class on how to run a successful vegan crowdfunding campaign. [10] Costa Coffee became Britain’s first coffee shop chain to offer a vegan cake. [11] The first plant-based medical center in the US, founded by Dr. Neal Barnard, opened in Washington D.C. [12] 13,000 sheep and cows are stranded at sea aboard a live export ship. [13] At least 35,000 cows froze to death in a Texas blizzard and “many other animals developed frostbite and could still die.” [14]

The first U.S. location of the popular Singaporean vegan burger chain, VeganBurg, opened in the Haight in San Francisco. [15] Veganuary is, by all accounts, going gangbusters with approximately 50,000 taking part. [16] National Institutes of Health (NIH) has begun phasing out controversial monkey experiments at one of its labs in Poolesville, Maryland and says it is for financial reasons and not due to an aggressive yearlong campaign by PETA. [17]